Iconized video advertisement wall

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are provided that can include iconization and later play of video content items, such as advertisements. During presentation of an online video, video advertisements may be presented. Upon user selection, during or after presentation of a particular video advertisement, the advertisement may cease to be presented, but an icon may be displayed that represents the video advertisement. The icon may be displayed in an area adjacent to the online video display area, which area may include multiple icons. Later, upon user selection of the icon, the video advertisement may be played, or may continue playing, utilizing local storage of the video advertisement. This, in turn, may provide, for example, efficient, convenient user access to the video advertisement, leading to enhanced advertisement performance with minimal intrusive impact on the user experience as a whole.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. application Ser. No.13/786,729 filed on Mar. 6, 2013 and entitled, “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORNON-INTRUSIVE VIDEO ADVERTISEMENT WALL”, which is hereby incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Video content, including online videos, as well as video content items,such as, for example, video advertisements, continue to increase in useand importance. It is often desired, for example, that video contentitems or video advertisements be, among other things, high-performance,yet with minimal intrusiveness or negative impact on user experience asa whole.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a distributed computer system thatcan implement one or more aspects of a video advertisement iconizationsystem or method according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an electronic device that canimplement one or more aspects of a video advertisement iconizationsystem or method according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3-7 illustrate block diagrams of a system that can implement one ormore aspects of a video advertisement iconization system or methodaccording to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8-9 illustrate flow diagrams of example operations of one or moreaspects of a video advertisement iconization system or method accordingto one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of a system that can implement oneor more aspects of a video advertisement iconization system or methodaccording to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates a flow diagram of example operations of one or moreaspects of a video advertisement iconization system or method accordingto one embodiment of the invention; and,

FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of logic that can be used inimplementing one or more aspects of a video advertisement iconizationsystem or method according to one embodiment of the invention.

While the invention is described with reference to the above drawings,the drawings are intended to be illustrative, and the inventioncontemplates other embodiments within the spirit of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, andwhich show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments by which theinvention may be practiced. This invention may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Amongother things, the present invention may be embodied as methods ordevices. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of anentirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects. The followingdetailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

Throughout the specification and claims, the following terms take themeanings explicitly associated herein, unless the context clearlydictates otherwise. The phrase “in one embodiment” as used herein doesnot necessarily refer to the same embodiment, though it may.Furthermore, the phrase “in another embodiment” as used herein does notnecessarily refer to a different embodiment, although it may. Thus, asdescribed below, various embodiments of the invention may be readilycombined, without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.

In addition, as used herein, the term “or” is an inclusive “or”operator, and is equivalent to the term “and/or,” unless the contextclearly dictates otherwise. The term “based on” is not exclusive andallows for being based on additional factors not described, unless thecontext clearly dictates otherwise. In addition, throughout thespecification, the meaning of a,” “an,” and “the” includes pluralreferences. The meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on.”

It is noted that description herein is not intended as an extensiveoverview, and as such, concepts may be simplified in the interests ofclarity and brevity.

Some embodiments of the invention provide methods and systems that caninclude iconization of video content items, such as videoadvertisements. For example, in some embodiments, during presentation ofan online video to a user, a number of video advertisements may bepresented. For some, or each, of these, a user may be provided with anoption to iconize the video advertisement, such as for laterpresentation, or later continued presentation. For example, a user maybe viewing an online video, and during this, a video advertisement maybegin to be presented. The user may, for example, be tempted by theadvertisement, but may not wish to be interrupted from watching theonline video. The user may be able, for example, to click on theadvertisement, or an associated button or option, so that the videoadvertisement stops showing, allowing the user to continue watching theonline video without interruption or distraction. However, in place ofthe video advertisement, an icon representing the video advertisementmay be displayed, and may continue to be displayed, such as in an areaadjacent to the online video display. Later, such as after the onlinevideo is finishes, or if the user chooses to take a break from it, theuser can, for example, select the icon to watch the associated videoadvertisement, whether from the start or perhaps where the user left offbefore iconizing the video advertisement. However, in some embodiments,video advertisements, or some of them, may be automatically iconized,such as without other selection. In some embodiments, an icon maydisplay for set or flexible period of time, which could include before,at the end of, or after the presentation of the online video, or mayremain until some set event occurs or removes it, for example.

The icon may, broadly speaking, represent the advertisement, such as mayinclude, for example, being designed to effectively remind the user ofthe video advertisement, or something about it, such as an associatedoffer, the associated brand, advertiser, product, type of product, etc.That way, the user may be more likely to, for example, remember andselect the icon.

In some embodiments, any number of types of user selection are possible,such as, among other things, mouse or other selection object activationor clicking, mousing over or related actions, touch with a finger orpointer, such as on a mobile device or other device, eyeball tracking,etc.

In some embodiments, an advertiser, or advertisers, may for example,identify, configure, select, or provide particular icons to beassociated with particular advertisements. This may, for example, bepart of an advertisement campaign or management thereof. In someembodiments, one or more graphical user interfaces (GUIs) or ApplicationProtocol Interfaces (APIs) may be provided to advertisers, for this orother purposes.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, iconized or iconizable advertisementsmay be included as part of an auction-based online advertisementmarketplace for advertisers (where “advertisers” can broadly includetheir representatives, proxies, agents, etc.). In some embodiments,particular bidding parameters or premiums may be charged for iconizableor iconized advertisements, which may be associated with higheranticipated performance of such advertisements. Furthermore, in someembodiments, customized bidding parameters or payment parameters may beutilized. For example, advertiser charges or payment may be associated,or partly associated, with parameters such as, for example, userinteraction or time of interaction or presentation of the videoadvertisement, the associated icon, etc. Still further, in someembodiments, advertisers may be able to bid in connection withparameters associated with the iconizable advertisement, such as anassociated online video or movie.

In some embodiments, iconizable and iconized video advertisementperformance is tracked and stored, for analysis and optimization offuture advertising, which can include, for example, use of one or morefeature-based or matrix-based machine learning techniques. Iconized andiconizable video advertisements may be targeted to users in many ways,such as profile-based, including demographic profiles, as well as, forexample, emotional or psychographic profiles, behavior-based, social orsocial networking profiles or graphs, etc. In some embodiments,characteristics of users specifically in connection with or useful withreference with iconizable advertisements (such as past user behavior inthis regard) or otherwise associated general user behavior (such as auser's past behavior in terms of being distracted from a video, forexample), may be used.

In some embodiments, one or more GUIs or APIs may also be provided tousers, such as to enable configuration or customization of parametersassociated with iconization of video advertisements.

In some embodiments, if a user selects an icon, an online video that theuser is watching may automatically, such as without user action beingneeded, be paused until presentation of the video advertisementassociated with the icon ceases, and the online video may automaticallythen continue to be presented.

In some embodiments, a video advertisement area or bar, or videoadvertisement wall, may be included. For example, in some embodiments,an area may be provided for a group of icons, such as an areasubstantially adjacent to the online video display area. This may helpdraw the user's attention to this area, while not interfering with theviewing of the online video.

In some embodiments, the icon display area may be limited, such as to amaximum area or a maximum number of icons, such as, for example, fiveicons. The area or number may be determined to be anticipated to providemaximal performance overall. In some embodiments, when new icons aredisplayed, previously presented icons may be removed, such as, forexample, on a first in, first out basis, or in some other way. In someembodiments, icons may cycle or move around within the display area invarious ways, including being positioned or moved to as to increase oroptimize performance, according to, or partly according to, advertisingbidding or anticipated marketmaker profit, etc. Furthermore,distribution in time of iconizable advertisements, and time of displayof icons, may be configurable, such as designed to optimize performance.

In some embodiments, icons may be of various sizes. In some embodiments,icons may be much smaller than the associated video advertisement.

While described largely in connection with video (which term, as usedherein, is intended to be interpreted broadly), such as online videos,video content items, and video advertisement, some embodiments of theinvention are used, or also used, in connection with non-video or notjust video, content, advertisements, etc.

Herein, the terms “display”, “presentation” and “play” are intended tobe broadly interpreted to include any form of display, presentation, orserving, which can, for example include visual and/or audiopresentation.

FIG. 1 illustrates components of one embodiment of an environment inwhich a system according to some embodiments of the invention, such asmay be generally and non-exclusively, and in a non-limiting way,described as an iconizable content items system or video advertisementiconization system, may be practiced. Not all of the components may berequired to practice the invention, and variations in the arrangementand type of the components may be made without departing from the spiritor scope of the invention. As shown, the system 100 includes one or morelocal area networks (“LANs”)/wide area networks (“WANs”) 112, one ormore wireless networks 110, one or more wired or wireless client devices106, mobile or other wireless client devices 102-105, servers 106-107and one or more advertisement servers 108, and may include orcommunicate with one or more data stores or databases. Various of theclient devices 102-106 may include, for example, desktop computers,laptop computers, set top boxes, tablets, cell phones, smart phones,etc. The servers 106-107 can include, for example, one or moreapplication servers, content servers, search servers, etc.

The system 100 also includes one or more advertisement servers 108. Anadvertisement server can include, for example, a computer server thathas a role in connection with online advertising, such as, for example,in obtaining, storing, determining, configuring, selecting, ranking,retrieving, targeting, matching, serving and presenting onlineadvertisements, including video content items, to users, such as onwebsites, in applications, and other places where users will see them.

Elements of the system 100, which may include the servers 106-108 mayinclude a Video Advertisement Iconization Program, as depicted, forexample, in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an electronic device 200 that canimplement one or more aspects of a Video Advertisement IconizationProgram 223 (with the name being for reference and non-limiting),according to one embodiment of the invention. Instances of theelectronic device 200 may include servers, e.g. servers 106-108, andclient devices, e.g. client devices 102-106. In general, the electronicdevice 200 can include a processor 202, memory 230, a power supply 206,and input/output (I/O) components 240, e.g., microphones, speakers,displays, touchscreens, keyboards, keypads, GPS components, etc., whichmay be operable, for example, to provide graphical user interfaces. Theelectronic device 200 can also include a communications bus 204 thatconnects the aforementioned elements of the electronic device 200.Network interfaces 214 can include a receiver and a transmitter (ortransceiver), and an antenna for wireless communications.

The processor 202 can include one or more of any type of processingdevice, e.g., a central processing unit (CPU). Also, for example, theprocessor can be central processing logic. Central processing logic, orother logic, may include hardware, firmware, software, or combinationsthereof, to perform one or more functions or actions, or to cause one ormore functions or actions from one or more other components. Also, basedon a desired application or need, central processing logic, or otherlogic, may include, for example, a software controlled microprocessor,discrete logic, e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC),a programmable/programmed logic device, memory device containinginstructions, etc., or combinatorial logic embodied in hardware.Furthermore, logic may also be fully embodied as software. The memory230, which can include RAM 212 and ROM 232, can be enabled by one ormore of any type of memory device, e.g., a primary (directly accessibleby the CPU) or secondary (indirectly accessible by the CPU) storagedevice (e.g., flash memory, magnetic disk, optical disk). The ROM 232can also include BIOS 220 of the electronic device.

The RAM can include an operating system 221, data storage 224, which mayinclude one or more databases, and, among other things, programs orapplications 222, which can include, for example, a Video AdvertisementIconization Program 223. The Program 223 is intended to broadly includeor represent all programming, applications, algorithms, software andother tools necessary to implement or facilitate methods and systemsaccording to embodiments of the invention, including embodiments inwhich iconized items are content items that are advertisements, as wellas embodiments including content items that are not advertisements, andcan include content items other than video. The elements of the VideoAdvertisement Iconization Program 223 may exist on a single servercomputer or be distributed among multiple computers or devices orentities, which can include advertisers, publishers, data providers,etc.

The power supply 206 contains one or more power components, andfacilitates supply and management of power to the electronic device 200.

The input/output components, including I/O interfaces 240, can include,for example, any interfaces for facilitating communication between anycomponents of the electronic device 200, components of external devices(e.g., components of other devices of the network or system 100), andend users. For example, such components can include a network card thatmay be an integration of a receiver, a transmitter, and one or moreinput/output interfaces. A network care, for example, can facilitatewired or wireless communication with other devices of a network. Incases of wireless communication, an antenna can facilitate suchcommunication. Also, some of the input/output interfaces 240 and the bus204 can facilitate communication between components of the electronicdevice 200, and in an example can ease processing performed by theprocessor 202.

Where the electronic device 200 is a server, it can include a computingdevice that can be capable of sending or receiving signals, e.g., via awired or wireless network, or may be capable of processing or storingsignals, e.g., in memory as physical memory states. The server may be anapplication server that includes a configuration to provide one or moreapplications, e.g., aspects of the Video Advertisement IconizationProgram 223, via a network to another device. Also, an applicationserver may, for example, host a Web site that can provide a userinterface for administration of example aspects of the VideoAdvertisement Iconization Program 223.

Any computing device capable of sending, receiving, and processing dataover a wired and/or a wireless network may act as a server, such as infacilitating aspects of implementations of the Video AdvertisementIconization Program 223. Thus, devices acting as a server may includedevices such as dedicated rack-mounted servers, desktop computers,laptop computers, set top boxes, integrated devices combining one ormore of the preceding devices, etc.

Servers may vary in widely in configuration and capabilities, but theygenerally include one or more central processing units, memory, massdata storage, a power supply, wired or wireless network interfaces,input/output interfaces, and an operating system such as Windows Server,Mac OS X, UNIX, Linux, FreeBSD, etc.

A server may include, for example, a device that is configured, orincludes a configuration, to provide data or content via one or morenetworks to another device, such as in facilitating aspects of anexample Video Advertisement Iconization Program 223. One or more serversmay, for example, be used in hosting a Web site, such as the Yahoo! Website. One or more servers may host a variety of sites, such as, forexample, business sites, informational sites, social networking sites,educational sites, wikis, financial sites, government sites, personalsites, etc.

Servers may also, for example, provide a variety of services, such asWeb services, third-party services, audio services, video services,email services, instant messaging (IM) services, SMS services, MMSservices, FTP services, voice or IP (VOIP) services, calendaringservices, phone services, advertising services etc., all of which maywork in conjunction with example aspects of an example VideoAdvertisement Iconization Program 223. Content may include, for example,text, images, audio, video, advertisements, etc.

In example aspects of the Video Advertisement Iconization Program 223,client devices may include, for example, any computing device capable ofsending and receiving data over a wired and/or a wireless network. Suchclient devices may include desktop computers as well as portable devicessuch as cellular telephones, smart phones, display pagers, radiofrequency (RF) devices, infrared (IR) devices, Personal DigitalAssistants (PDAs), handheld computers, GPS-enabled devices tabletcomputers, sensor-equipped devices, laptop computers, set top boxes,wearable computers, integrated devices combining one or more of thepreceding devices, etc.

Client devices, as may be used in an example Video AdvertisementIconization Program 223, may range widely in terms of capabilities andfeatures. For example, a cell phone, smart phone or tablet may have anumeric keypad and a few lines of monochrome LCD display on which onlytext may be displayed. In another example, a Web-enabled client devicemay have a physical or virtual keyboard, data storage (such as flashmemory or SD cards), accelerometers, gyroscopes, GPS or otherlocation-aware capability, and a 2D or 3D touch-sensitive color screenon which both text and graphics may be displayed.

Client devices, such as client devices 102-106, for example, as may beused in an example Video Advertisement Iconization Program 223, may runa variety of operating systems, including personal computer operatingsystems such as Windows, iOS or Linux, and mobile operating systems suchas iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile, etc. Client devices may be used torun one or more applications that are configured to send or receive datafrom another computing device. Client applications may provide andreceive textual content, multimedia information, etc. Clientapplications may perform actions such as browsing webpages, using a websearch engine, sending and receiving messages via email, SMS, or MMS,playing games (such as fantasy sports leagues), receiving advertising,watching locally stored or streamed video, or participating in socialnetworks.

In example aspects of a Video Advertisement Iconization Program 223, oneor more networks, such as networks 110 or 112, for example, may coupleservers and client devices with other computing devices, includingthrough wireless network to client devices. A network may be enabled toemploy any form of computer readable media for communicating informationfrom one electronic device to another. A network may include theInternet in addition to local area networks (LANs), wide area networks(WANs), direct connections, such as through a universal serial bus (USB)port, other forms of computer-readable media, or any combinationthereof. On an interconnected set of LANs, including those based ondiffering architectures and protocols, a router acts as a link betweenLANs, enabling data to be sent from one to another.

Communication links within LANs may include twisted wire pair or coaxialcable, while communication links between networks may utilize analogtelephone lines, cable lines, optical lines, full or fractionaldedicated digital lines including T1, T2, T3, and T4, IntegratedServices Digital Networks (ISDNs), Digital Subscriber Lines (DSLs),wireless links including satellite links, or other communications linksknown to those skilled in the art. Furthermore, remote computers andother related electronic devices could be remotely connected to eitherLANs or WANs via a modem and a telephone link.

A wireless network, such as wireless network 110, as in an example VideoAdvertisement Iconization Program 223, may couple devices with anetwork. A wireless network may employ stand-alone ad-hoc networks, meshnetworks, Wireless LAN (WLAN) networks, cellular networks, etc.

A wireless network may further include an autonomous system ofterminals, gateways, routers, or the like connected by wireless radiolinks, or the like. These connectors may be configured to move freelyand randomly and organize themselves arbitrarily, such that the topologyof wireless network may change rapidly. A wireless network may furtheremploy a plurality of access technologies including 2nd (2G), 3rd (3G),4th (4G) generation, Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio access for cellularsystems, WLAN, Wireless Router (WR) mesh, etc. Access technologies suchas 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 4G, and future access networks may enable wide areacoverage for client devices, such as client devices with various degreesof mobility. For example, wireless network may enable a radio connectionthrough a radio network access technology such as Global System forMobile communication (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS), General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSMEnvironment (EDGE), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced,Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n,etc. A wireless network may include virtually any wireless communicationmechanism by which information may travel between client devices andanother computing device, network, etc.

Internet Protocol may be used for transmitting data communicationpackets over a network of participating digital communication networks,and may include protocols such as TCP/IP, UDP, DECnet, NetBEUI, IPX,Appletalk, and the like. Versions of the Internet Protocol include IPv4and IPv6. The Internet includes local area networks (LANs), wide areanetworks (WANs), wireless networks, and long haul public networks thatmay allow packets to be communicated between the local area networks.The packets may be transmitted between nodes in the network to siteseach of which has a unique local network address. A data communicationpacket may be sent through the Internet from a user site via an accessnode connected to the Internet. The packet may be forwarded through thenetwork nodes to any target site connected to the network provided thatthe site address of the target site is included in a header of thepacket. Each packet communicated over the Internet may be routed via apath determined by gateways and servers that switch the packet accordingto the target address and the availability of a network path to connectto the target site.

A “content delivery network” or “content distribution network” (CDN), asmay be used in an example Video Advertisement Iconization Program 223,generally refers to a distributed computer system that comprises acollection of autonomous computers linked by a network or networks,together with the software, systems, protocols and techniques designedto facilitate various services, such as the storage, caching, ortransmission of content, streaming media, video content, andapplications on behalf of content providers. Such services may make useof ancillary technologies including, but not limited to, “cloudcomputing,” distributed storage, DNS request handling, provisioning,data monitoring and reporting, content targeting, personalization, andbusiness intelligence. A CDN may also enable an entity to operate and/ormanage a third party's Web site infrastructure, in whole or in part, onthe third party's behalf.

A peer-to-peer (or P2P) computer network relies primarily on thecomputing power and bandwidth of the participants in the network ratherthan concentrating it in a given set of dedicated servers. P2P networksare typically used for connecting nodes via largely ad hoc connections.A pure peer-to-peer network does not have a notion of clients orservers, but only equal peer nodes that simultaneously function as both“clients” and “servers” to the other nodes on the network.

Some embodiments include direct or indirect use of social networks andsocial network information, such as in targeted advertising oradvertisement selection. A “social network” refers generally to anetwork of acquaintances, friends, family, colleagues, and/or coworkers,and potentially the subsequent connections within those networks. Asocial network, for example, may be utilized to find more relevantconnections for a variety of activities, including, but not limited to,dating, job networking, receiving or providing service referrals,content sharing, creating new associations or maintaining existingassociations with like-minded individuals, finding activity partners,performing or supporting commercial transactions, etc.

A social network may include individuals with similar experiences,opinions, education levels and/or backgrounds, or may be organized intosubgroups according to user profile, where a member may belong tomultiple subgroups. A user may have multiple “1:few” circles, such astheir family, college classmates, or coworkers.

A person's online social network includes the person's set of directrelationships and/or indirect personal relationships. Direct personalrelationships refers to relationships with people the user communicateswith directly, which may include family members, friends, colleagues,coworkers, and the like. Indirect personal relationships refers topeople with whom a person has not had some form of direct contact, suchas a friend of a friend, or the like. Different privileges andpermissions may be associated with those relationships. A social networkmay connect a person with other people or entities, such as companies,brands, or virtual persons. A person's connections on a social networkmay be represented visually by a “social graph” that represents eachentity as a node and each relationship as an edge.

Users may interact with social networks through a variety of devices.Multi-modal communications technologies may enable consumers to engagein conversations across multiple devices and platforms, such as cellphones, smart phones, tablet computing devices, personal computers,televisions, SMS/MMS, email, instant messenger clients, forums, andsocial networking sites.

In some embodiments, an example Video Advertisement Iconization Program223 can make use of various monetization techniques or models may beused in connection with contextual or non-search related advertising, aswell as in sponsored search advertising, including advertisingassociated with user search queries, and non-sponsored searchadvertising, including graphical or display advertising, iconized andiconizable advertising, video advertising, etc. In an auction-basedonline advertising marketplace, advertisers may bid in connection withplacement of advertisements, although many other factors may also beincluded in determining advertisement selection or ranking. Bids may beassociated with amounts the advertisers pay for certain specifiedoccurrences, such as for placed or clicked-on advertisements, forexample. Advertiser payment for online advertising may be dividedbetween parties including one or more publishers or publisher networks,and one or more marketplace facilitators or providers, potentially amongother parties.

Some aspects of an example Video Advertisement Iconization Program 223include advertising. Some models include guaranteed deliveryadvertising, in which advertisers may pay based on an agreementguaranteeing or providing some measure of assurance that the advertiserwill receive a certain agreed upon amount of suitable advertising, andnon-guaranteed delivery advertising, which may be individual servingopportunity-based or spot market-based. In various models, advertisersmay pay based on any of various metrics associated with advertisementdelivery or performance, or associated with measurement or approximationof a particular advertiser goal. For example, models can include, amongother things, payment based on cost per impression or number ofimpressions, cost per click or number of clicks, cost per action forsome specified action, cost per conversion or purchase, or cost based onsome combination of metrics, which can include online or offlinemetrics. In some embodiments, payment may be based, or based in part, onparameters associated specifically with, or particularly relevant to,for example, iconized or iconizable advertising.

The process of buying and selling online advertisements may include orrequire the involvement of a number of different entities, includingadvertisers, publishers, agencies, networks, and developers. To simplifythis process, some companies provide mutual organization systems called“ad exchanges” that connect advertisers and publishers in a unifiedplatform to facilitate the bidded buying and selling of onlineadvertisement inventory from multiple ad networks. “Ad networks” refersto companies that aggregate ad space supply from publishers and provideen masse to advertisers.

For Web portals, such as Yahoo!, advertisements may be displayed on webpages resulting from a user-defined search based upon one or more searchterms. Such advertising is most beneficial to users, advertisers and webportals when the displayed advertisements are relevant to the web portaluser's interests. Thus, a variety of techniques have been developed toinfer the user's interests/intent and subsequently target the mostrelevant advertising to that user.

One approach to improving the effectiveness of presenting targetedadvertisements to those users interested in receiving productinformation from various sellers is to employ demographiccharacteristics (i.e., age, income, sex, occupation, etc.) forpredicting the behavior of groups of different users. Advertisements maybe presented to each user in a targeted audience based upon predictedbehaviors rather than in response to certain keyword search terms.

Another approach is profile-based ad targeting. In this approach, userprofiles specific to each user are generated to model user behavior, forexample, by tracking each user's path through a web site or network ofsites, and then compiling a profile based on what pages andadvertisements were delivered to the user. Using aggregated data, acorrelation develops between users in a certain target audience and theproducts that those users purchase. The correlation then is used totarget potential purchasers by targeting content or advertisements tothe user at a later time.

During the presentation of advertisements, the presentation system maycollect detailed information about the type of advertisements presentedto the user. This information may be used for gathering analyticinformation on the advertising or potential advertising within thepresentation. A broad range of analytic information may be gathered,including information specific to the advertising presentation system.Advertising analytics gathered may be transmitted to locations remote tothe local advertising presentation system for storage or for furtheranalysis. Where such advertising analytics transmittal is notimmediately available, the gathered advertising analytics may be savedby the advertising presentation system until the transmittal of thoseadvertising analytics becomes available.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example distributed system 300 in which aspects ofsome embodiments of the invention can be practiced (although allelements of the system are not necessary in practicing various elementsor embodiments of the invention). The system 300 includes a marketmaker304 and an advertising marketplace 302, which may, for example, beauction-based. Entities associated, directly or indirectly, with themarketplace 302 can include advertisers 306, publishers 308 and otherentities 312, such as ad networks, data providers, partners, etc. Insome embodiments, in or through this system or elements thereof, amarketmaker may offer, and advertisers may bid on and for, iconizablevideo advertisement opportunities.

FIGS. 4-7 illustrates a series of simplified GUI screen shots, inaccordance with some embodiments of the invention. As illustrated inFIG. 4, GUI 402, which can be or include a window, for example, includesan online video 404 that is being played or presented. Adjacent to theonline video display area is a rectangular area 406, which is to serveas a display area for, potentially among other things, iconsrepresenting iconized video advertisements. As shown, the area 406includes spots for 5 icons, which spots, when unfilled, may or may notbe visible, and may or may not include other content or advertisements,or may be used for other purposes. As illustrated, during play of theonline video 404, presentation or serving is initiated of a videoadvertisement, specifically, Video Ad 1 408 (in other embodiments, thiscould be a non-advertisement content item), which is an iconizable videoadvertisement. Video Ad 1 408 is shown adjacent to the icon displayarea, but could be displayed elsewhere, whether separate from, on, orpartially overlapping with other screen content, which could, in someembodiments, include the online video.

In FIG. 5, the online video 504 is at a later point in play than in FIG.4. More specifically, in FIG. 5, Video Ad 1 408 has been iconized as anicon in the icon display area 506, specifically, Icon 1, which, broadlyspeaking, represents Video Ad 1 408. Video ad 1 408, itself, is nolonger displayed. In some embodiments, upon or after iconization of Icon1, the entire associated advertisement, Video Ad 1, is stored locally onthe user device. In some embodiments, play or playback from such localstorage can enable higher efficiency, faster, better display or userexperience, etc., while not being inhibitive in terms of storage orstoring, since only iconized advertisements are stored locally. In someembodiments, only a portion of an associated advertisement is stored. Insome embodiments, a stored ad may be erased if an associated icon is nolonger displayed.

However, in some embodiments, local storage is not done or utilized, andlater selection of an icon may trigger remote serving or streaming ofthe associated video advertisement, for instance, which may or may notbe different or made faster or more efficient using, for example, localor remote processing, preprocessing, formatting, loading, etc., inanticipation of potential later presentation.

In some embodiments, only some advertisements, or some videoadvertisements, are iconizable. As such, other advertisements may havebeen shown, but not iconized. In some embodiments, user selection ofsome sort is needed to iconize an iconizable advertisement, such as auser clicking on the advertisement, or an option or button to iconizethe advertisement. However, in some embodiments, some or all iconizableadvertisements may be iconized without user action, following completeor partial presentation thereof.

In FIG. 6, a still later point in the presentation of the online video604 is illustrated. As depicted, another advertisement (not shown) hasbeen iconized as Icon 2. Furthermore, Icon 1 has been moved to the nextlower icon spot, and Icon 2 is displayed in the highest icon spot, whereIcon 1 had previously been displayed.

FIG. 7 represents a still later point in the presentation of the onlinevideo 704. By this point, several other video advertisements have beeniconized, and now all five icon spots in the icon display area arefilled with Icon 1-Icon 5. In some embodiments, if another icon is thendisplayed, it may appear in the highest spot, and the remaining iconswould move down, except for Icon 1, which would disappear. However, ofcourse, many other display possibilities and strategies exist. Forexample, in some embodiments, icons may be displayed for set periods oftime, or for variable periods of time, depending on particular factors,such as user targeting, user behavior, calculated or anticipatesassociated video advertisement performance, profitability or quality,advertiser, marketmaker or user configuration, user profiling ortargeting, etc. Furthermore, in some embodiments, icons may be movedaround according to various factors or algorithms. In some embodiments,icons themselves may include animation, interactability beyonddisplaying an advertisement, or other features.

In some embodiments, once an icon, such as any of icons 1-5, isselected, the associated advertisement, or a portion thereof, may play.In some embodiments, the advertisement may begin presentation from apoint where it left off playing before being iconized, but in someembodiments, it may present from the start. In some embodiments, theadvertisement may be altered or different, in format, content, orfunctionality, for example, when played from an icon, than wheninitially played.

In some embodiments, icons themselves may include video, movement,animation, rich media, size variability, or other aspects, which alsomay or may not depend upon various factors. In some embodiments, variousfactors may play a role, such as, for example, an associated advertiseror advertiser bidding, pricing, or advertiser configuration, a portionof the online video presently playing, characteristics of a presentlyplaying portion of, the online video, subject matter of the onlinevideo, user targeting, etc.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow diagram of example operations 800 of one ormore aspects of a video advertisement iconization system or methodaccording to one embodiment of the invention. Data store(s) ordatabase(s) 802 may be used in association with various of the stepsdepicted in FIG. 8.

At step 804, during presentation of an online video to a user, aniconizable video ad is selected, and presentation thereof is initiated,which can include serving or partial serving thereof.

At step 806, during presentation of the iconizable video ad, monitoringis performed for user selection to iconize the ad, which can includeuser clicking, mousing over, or other selection or action, on the aditself, or on an associated button or other selectable item.

At step 808, it is queried whether the user has selected to iconize thead, during presentation of the ad. If so, then, at step 810, upon userselection, the ad is iconized accordingly for display of an icon in theicon display area, and the entire ad is stored on the user device forpotential later play.

If not, then, at step 812, it is queried whether the ad planned foriconization following completion of presentation of ad. If so, then,upon completion of presentation of ad, the ad is iconized accordinglyfor display as an icon in the icon display area, and the entire ad isstored on the user device for potential later play.

If not, then, at step 816, the ad is not iconized, following completepresentation of the ad, presentation is ceased, including display of anyportion of the ad, and the ad is not iconized.

At step 818, performance tracking is conducted, such as of iconizableand iconized ads, and used in feedback and optimization processes, suchas future ad targeting and selection optimization, ad configurationoptimization, ad campaign or bidding optimization, etc., which mayinclude use of one or more machine learning models 820.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow diagram of example operations 900 of one ormore aspects of a video advertisement iconization system or methodaccording to one embodiment of the invention.

Block 902 represents the method for video ad iconization, duringpresentation of an online video, upon user selection or planned,including steps 904-916.

At step 904, presentation of the video advertisement is ceased.

At step 906, the icon, representing ad, is displayed in the icon displayarea separate from an online video display area.

At step 908, the icon is displayed for some period of time, and may bere-positioned, such as in accordance with planning, such asconfiguration, one or more algorithms, etc.

At step 910, monitoring is performed for user selection of or regardingthe icon, such as may trigger iconization.

At step 912, the method queries whether such user selection has beendetected. If not, then, at step 914, the icon is presented for a periodof time, which may include re-positioning of the icon during displayperiod.

If user selection of the icon is detected, then, at step 916, the videoad is presented, or a portion thereof is presented, and, if the onlinevideo is playing, it is or may be paused. In some embodiments, theonline video may at some point automatically continue being presented,such as without user action to cause re-starting, such as uponcompletion of presentation of the ad, completion of a user interactionwith the ad, or user selection to discontinue presentation of orinteractions with the ad and go back to watching the online video, forexample.

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of a system 1000 that can implementone or more aspects of a video advertisement iconization system ormethod according to one embodiment of the invention, which can include acomputer-based online advertising system 1002.

The system 1002 includes or is used to implement several engines 1004,1008, 1012. The engines 1004, 1008, 1012 may be, for example,program-based or software-based modules or conceptual units that mayinclude programming, software, applications, etc., used in implementingor affecting aspects, functions or uses of some embodiments of theinvention. Among other possibilities, the engines 1004, 1008, 1012 maybe included in or implemented using one or more servers of the system1002, including one or more processors and data stores or databases, orelements of the engines 1004, 1008, 1012 may be distributed amongdifferent systems, which could include, for example, advertiser orcontent item provider, publisher or other entity systems. In someembodiments, the various engines 1004, 1008, 1012, perhaps along withone or more other engines or other elements, may work together or incoordination to practice or implement methods or techniques according toembodiments of the invention.

The engines 1004, 1008, 1012 include an advertisement selection andserving engine 1004, that may be used for, among other things, asrepresented as step 1006, in advertisement targeting, selection andpresentation, etc., including iconization related aspects. The engines1004, 1008, 1012 may also include an advertisement iconization engine1008, that may be used for, among other things, as represented as step1010, in advertisement iconization and aspects related to or associatedwith advertisement iconization, which can include generation andmanagement of an icon display area. The engines 1004, 1008, 1012 mayfurther include an iconized advertisement play engine 1012, that may beused for, among other thing, as represented by step 1012, presentationof video advertisements associated with selected icons, and relatedaspects, such in accordance with iconization planning or configuration.

FIG. 11 illustrates a flow diagram of example operations 1100 of one ormore aspects of a video advertisement iconization system or methodaccording to one embodiment of the invention. Data from various stepsmay be stored or obtained from one or more data stores or databases,such as database(s) 1114.

Step 1102 represents, during presentation of an online video, selectionand presentation of ads, which may include both non-iconizable andiconizable ads.

Step 1104 represents, among the presented ads, including iconizableadvertisements. Furthermore, step 1106 represents, upon user selectionor other trigger, iconization of particular iconizable ads. Stillfurther, step 1108 represents formation or management of a display areaincluding icons.

Step 1110 represents, upon user selection of or in association with anicon, presenting the associated ad, and, if configured accordingly,pausing the online video, if it is playing.

Step 1112 represents tracking and storing iconizable and iconized adperformance information, such as for later use in optimization ofaspects of advertising or advertising campaign management, for example.

FIG. 12 illustrates logic 1200, such as software or programming basedlogic, that may be used to implement one or more aspects of a videoadvertisement iconization system or method according to one embodimentof the invention, such as may be elements of one embodiment of a VideoAdvertisement Iconization Program 223. As depicted, an onlineadvertisement selection and serving engine 1218 or module may be used inproviding logic for targeting, selecting and serving advertisements1202.

Furthermore, an advertisement iconization engine 1214 or module, may beused in providing various logic. The engine 1214 may provide logic for,during presentation of online video, selecting and presenting aniconizable video ad 1204. The engine 1214 may further provide logic for,upon user selection re. the iconizable video ad, iconizing the video adand displaying the icon in an icon display area 1206. The engine 1214may also provide logic for maintaining and updating the icon displayarea, to potentially include a number of icons 1208. Still further, theengine 1214 may provide logic for tracking, storing, and utilizingiconizable and iconized ad performance information, including beforeafter presentation of an iconized ad 1210.

Still further, a video advertisement play engine 1216 or module, may beused in providing various logic. The engine 1216 may provide logic for,upon user selection of or re. an icon, presenting a video advertisement,or portion thereof, associated with the icon 1212.

While the systems and methods have been described in terms of one ormore embodiments, it is to be understood that the disclosure need not belimited to the disclosed embodiments. It is intended to cover variousmodifications and similar arrangements included within the scope of theclaims, the scope of which should be accorded the broadestinterpretations so as to encompass all such modifications and similarstructures.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A system comprising one or more processors and anon-transitory storage medium comprising program logic for execution bythe one or more processors, the program logic comprising: anadvertisement iconization engine that, during presentation of an onlinevideo to a user, for each video advertisement of a set of videoadvertisements presented, at least in part, to the user on a device ofthe user, after presentation of at least a portion of a duration of thevideo advertisement and upon a first selection of the user: ceasespresentation of the video advertisement, including display of anyportion thereof; in a first display area outside of a display area ofthe online video, causes display of an icon, representing the videoadvertisement and provided or selected by an advertiser, in an icon spotamong other displayed icons, representing other video advertisements, inother icon spots, wherein the display of the icon in an icon spot isbased at least in part on one of a determined set period of time fordisplaying the icon or determined variable periods of time fordisplaying the icon; and causes storage of at least a portion of thevideo advertisement on the device of the user while the icon isdisplayed in an icon spot, and erasure of one or more of the set ofvideo advertisements from storage on the device of the user when anassociated icon is no longer displayed in one of the icon spots.
 22. Thesystem of claim 21, further comprising: an iconized advertisement playengine that, upon user selection of the icon and utilizing storage ofthe video advertisement on the device of the user, initiates apresentation that includes playing at least a portion of the videoadvertisement starting, as determined by the advertiser, from one of apoint where the video advertisement left off playing before beingiconized, a beginning of the video advertisement, or a beginning of analtered version of the video advertisement.
 23. The system of claim 22,wherein the iconized advertisement play engine, during presentation ofthe online video, upon the user selection of the icon, causes pausing ofpresentation of the online video and initiates presentation of at leasta portion of the video advertisement.
 24. The system of claim 21,wherein the determined set period of time for displaying the icon andthe determined variable periods of time for displaying the icon arebased at least in part on one or more of user targeting, user behavior,calculated or anticipated associated video advertisement performance,calculated or anticipated associated video advertisement profitability,calculated or anticipated associated video advertisement quality, anadvertiser configuration, a marketmaker configuration, a userconfiguration and user profiling.
 25. The system of claim 21, whereinthe advertisement iconization engine, upon the user selection, furthercauses storage of the video advertisement, in its entirety, on thedevice of the user.
 26. The system of claim 21, further comprising: anadvertisement selection and serving engine that selects and initiatesserving of each video advertisement of the set of video advertisementsto the user.
 27. The system of claim 21, wherein the other icons areselected by other advertisers to represent other video advertisements.28. The system of claim 21, wherein the video advertisement includes acoupon or a discount offer to the user.
 29. The system of claim 21,wherein upon a first selection of the user comprises: upon a firstselection of the user of the video advertisement.
 30. The system ofclaim 21, wherein upon a first selection of the user comprises: upon afirst selection of the user of an option to iconize the videoadvertisement for potential later presentation.
 31. The system of claim21, further comprising: providing, to advertisers, one or more graphicaluser interfaces or application protocol interfaces (APIs), through whichthe advertisers can identify, select or configure video advertisementsto be subject to iconization, and can identify, select or configureparticular icons to represent particular video advertisements.
 32. Thesystem of claim 21, further comprising: providing the user with one ormore graphical user interfaces through which the user can configureparameters or options associated with iconization and play of videoadvertisements.
 33. The system of claim 21, wherein the first displayarea comprises a set of icons limited to a specified maximum number anda specified maximum display area.
 34. The system of claim 21, wherein,in an auction-based online advertising marketplace, advertisers bid foriconized or iconizable video advertisement serving or presentationopportunities as part of online advertising campaigns.
 35. The system ofclaim 21, wherein the video advertisement and the icon are visiblyrelated to a single advertiser, brand or product.
 36. A methodcomprising: during presentation of an online video to a user on a userdevice, initiating presentation of each video content item of aplurality of video content items to the user, wherein each video contentitem of the plurality of video content items includes at least one offerto the user; for each video content item of a set of at least some ofthe plurality of video content items, after presentation of at least aportion of a duration of the video content item, the video content itemincluding an offer, and upon a first selection of the user: ceasingpresentation of the video content item, including display of any portionthereof; in a first display area separate from a display area of theonline video, causing display of an icon, representing the videoadvertisement and provided or selected by an advertiser, in an icon spotamong other displayed icons, representing other video advertisements, inother icon spots, wherein the display of the icon in an icon spot isbased at least in part on one of a determined set period of time fordisplaying the icon or determined variable periods of time fordisplaying the icon; and causing storage of at least a portion of thevideo advertisement on the device of the user while the icon isdisplayed in an icon spot, and erasure of one or more of the set ofvideo advertisements from storage on the device of the user when anassociated icon is no longer displayed in one of the icon spots.
 37. Themethod of claim 36, further comprising: upon user selection of the icon,initiating a presentation that includes playing at least a portion ofthe video content item utilizing storage of the video content item onthe user device starting, as determined by the advertiser, from one of apoint where the video content item left off playing before beingiconized, a beginning of the video content item, or a beginning of analtered version of the video content item.
 38. The method of claim 36,further comprising: presenting at least a portion of the video contentitem, wherein the video content item is a video advertisement, andwherein the entity is an advertiser.
 39. The method of claim 38, furthercomprising: targeting the video advertisement and the icon personally tothe user based one more or more characteristics of the user.
 40. Themethod of claim 38, further comprising: utilizing an advertisementiconization engine for iconization of video advertisements.
 41. Themethod of claim 38, further comprising: presenting at least a portion ofthe video advertisement, wherein the video advertisement includes acoupon or discount offer to the user.
 42. The method of claim 38,further comprising: upon the first selection of the user, causingstorage of the video advertisement, in its entirety, on the user device.43. A computer program product embedded in a non-transitory computerreadable storage medium or media comprising computer program logicexecutable by a computer processor, the computer program logiccomprising: advertisement iconization engine logic that, duringpresentation of an online video to a user, for each video advertisementof a set of video advertisements presented, at least in part, to theuser on a device of the user, after presentation of at least a portionof a duration of the video advertisement and upon a first selection ofthe user: ceases presentation of the video advertisement, includingdisplay of any portion thereof; in a first display area substantiallyadjacent to a display area of the online video, causes display of anicon, representing the video advertisement and provided or selected byan advertiser, in an icon spot among other displayed icons, representingother video advertisements, in other icon spots, wherein the display ofthe icon in an icon spot is based at least in part on one of adetermined set period of time for displaying the icon or determinedvariable periods of time for displaying the icon; and causes storage ofat least a portion of the video advertisement on the device of the userwhile the icon is displayed in an icon spot, and erasure of one or moreof the set of video advertisements from storage on the device of theuser when an associated icon is no longer displayed in one of the iconspots; and iconized advertisement play engine logic that, duringpresentation of the online video, upon user selection of the icon andutilizing storage of the video advertisement on the device of the user,pauses presentation of the online video and initiates a presentationthat includes playing at least a portion of the video advertisementstarting, as determined by the advertiser, from one of a point where thevideo advertisement left off playing before being iconized, a beginningof the video advertisement, or a beginning of an altered version of thevideo advertisement.